At the Senior Assembly, the 2011 Thomas H. Wyman 1951 medal was awarded to Sarah Leyman, a biology major who came to Amherst from Cincinnati, Ohio. Sarah's interests and accomplishments at Amherst are numerous: aside from completing her senior thesis in biology this year [Investigating carotenoid trade-offs: coloration versus immunity and antioxidant capacity in convict cichlids (amatitlania nigrofasciata)], she was captain of the NCAA champion Division III women's basketball team. In addition, for the past two years she served as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). A remarkable accomplishment of the SAAC effort this year is that 100% of Amherst's athletes were committed to community service. Sarah has led that effort to make service an integral part of both the academic and athletic experiences of our students.

Related to her work on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee was her nomination for the Coach Wooden Citizenship Cup, a national award which recognizes collegiate and professional athletes who have made the greatest positive influence in the lives of others. She was nominated by Coach JP Gromacki, who describes Sarah as a "relentless, tireless athlete" whose "dedication to excellence in all aspects of her life are second to none." Molly Mead, Director of Amherst's Center for Community Engagement, adds that Sarah "parlayed the natural competitiveness of student athletes to create this norm." Sarah was one of five finalists in this competition and traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for the award ceremony.

Trace the link to Sarah and Molly Mead discussing the SAAC and its accomplishments; I hope you will share our pride in all Sarah has accomplished at Amherst:

Amherst is honored to remember Tom's life-long, dedicated service to Amherst through this annual award. The college thanks his family and his Class of 1951 classmates for establishing this memorial that allows the College to recognize Amherst's best.

Recent Loss of Classmates

Samuel M. Watson '51 MBA (1929-2015) was instrumental in the remarkable fundraising record of the class of 1951 as class agent. Bearing credentials as a naval officer, a Wharton degree and CPA, Sam became a partner in Arthur Young, now branded as EY. Adding to his global stature, Watson retired as chief financial officer of Matshushita. The class extends its condolences to his beloved wife Connie and to his family. The same concern applies to our other classmates remembered below:

Peter K. Nichols '51 MBA (1929-2014) Pete has passed away having performed nearly all dimensions of Amerst liberal arts. Pete is survived by his wife Nancy Nichols of San Francisco, daughters Julia Nichols Andres of Novato, Karen Mercury (Dan) of Vallejo, Claudia Heikhaus-Morfit (Fred) of San Anselmo, Jonathan Nichols (Carla) of San Francisco, and Matthew Nichols of New York City.

John M. Woodbridge '51 MFA (1929-2014)John died suddenly while traveling in the south of France. A prominent architect, he designed Pennsylvania Ave in DC. John was nephew, cousin, grandson, son and father of Amherst grads. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn Kizer, Pulitzer prize poet, his children Pamela and Lawrence '80.

Leonard S. Kolsky '51 LLB LLM (1929-14) Len was a pioneer in the legal dimensions of the Internet revolution. He was an indispensable advisor to the Federal Communications Commission and to Motorola. Len is survived by Liz Sachs, his beloved wife of 25 years, as well as two adoring daughters, Meredith (Kent) Lewis and Reese (Rob) Rowe, from his first marriage to Michele Gordon Kolsky,

George A. Grover '51(1929-2014)

George became an accomplished computer programmer with IBM. George Grover was also a passionate reader, poet and surfer. He married Mary Elizabeth Grover with whom he raised five children; Eric '79, Gavin, Wendy, Chris and Margot.

Class of 1951 grieves for dick snodgrass who lost his wife arlanne. our class secretaries are closest to us by keeping in touch by phone and writing up our news.

2013 Wyman Medal Winner

Risalat Khan '13 is a geology and environment major from Dacca, Bangladesh. There follows his own words and his response for the 1951 campaign for the Singing College.

"I am honored to receive the Wyman Medal. It came as a very nice surprise in the same week following my birthday! I am sorry for the late reply - I was in the Berkshires with some friends for the last few days for a senior week trip and had no internet access.

To satisfy a bit of your curiosity about my background:

I went to a normal private high school in Bangladesh. It isn't especially distinguished by any means. When I graduated from high school, I considered my college options, and coming to the US on scholarship seemed like a good idea. So I went online, searched for rankings, and applied to the top few colleges and universities. Amherst happened to be the only place I got in (besides being wait-listed in a few other places), and while I did not know much about liberal arts colleges at the time, I liked it the more I read about it, and ended up coming here. Some of my school mates are in colleges in the US and Canada, but very few are in Oxford or Cambridge (or more generally, in the UK - even though there are some). Did you ask because Bangladesh used to be a British colony?

My plans for the immediate future involves a social entrepreneurship program in Boulder, CO for which I got selected. It is a start-up called Watson University, founded by a young Amherst alum (Eric Glustrom '07). I am excited to be part of the inaugural class (comprising 18 Watson scholars) and look forward to being in Boulder. Over the summer, I hope to do some research with a professor on the recent political turmoil in Bangladesh, take a road trip across the US, and go back home for a bit.

By the senior song, I understand you mean the song with lyrics "Strangers once, we came to dwell together..."? I did not know the song until quite recently, but a good friend of mine arranged to have the entire senior class sing the senior song together at Senior Assembly, and forwarded us a video of the song so we could learn the lyrics. I enjoyed singing it, and think it is a good song.

Regarding the Lord Jeffery Amherst song, however, I take some issue. From your google search, you may have come across my name relating to conversations on the "Lord Jeff" mascot. The song embeds in its lyrics a power dynamics that is inappropriate in a world where native americans are still so oppressed. Whether or not it was designed to be satirical does not really matter. Even very recently in our college's history, and definitely during the time that you were a student (please correct me if I'm mistaken), the issue of genocide of native americans was thrown around very lightly, even displayed as decoration in Val china. I organized an event on campus during this past semester where Michael Kelly, the Head of Archives and Special Collections at Frost Library, made an excellent presentation about the history of our mascot. I firmly believe that even though this has been an important tradition, it is time for us to move beyond this and choose a mascot that is inclusive for all our community members but can still energize our sports teams.

Again, I thank you for your email and for the recognition. Is there anything that follows this? You shared the list of previous award receivers, and I was impressed upon looking up the past awardees. Perhaps there can be a group where these individuals can share ideas about how best to use the Amherst education and experience to service humanity?

Best regards,Risalat Khan

CLASS OF1951 ANNUAL FUND DONATIONS FOR 2013 POSTED 81.9% PARTICIPATION IN LINE WITH THAT ACHIEVED BY CLASSES OF OUR VINTAGE IN SUPPORT OF AMHERST COLLEGE TODAY